Trump supporter wrongly detained by Ice questions his support for president

A Virginia man who was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents despite being an American citizen says he is reconsidering his support for Donald Trump in his triumphant 2024 presidential election campaign.

Jensy Machado, a naturalized US citizen, said he was in a car when he was stopped by Ice agents while on his way to work in Manassas, Virginia, where a large-scale immigration enforcement operation was recently taking place after Trump took office for a second time in January following repeated campaign promises of mass deportations.

“They just got out of the car with the guns in their hands and say: ‘Turn off the car, give me the keys, open the window,’ you know. Everything was really fast,” the 38-year-old Machado told the news stations Telemundo 44 and NBC 4 Washington.

Machado was driving to work with two other men when Ice suddenly stopped him near his home. Agents brandishing guns surrounded his truck.

“I was a Trump supporter,” he said on Wednesday. “I voted for Trump last election, but, because I thought it was going to be like ... against criminals, not every Hispanic, Spanish-lookalike.”

According to Machado, the agents told him the name of a man who had a deportation order and had given Machado’s home address. He responded by telling the agents that man’s name wasn’t his – and offered to show them his Virginia driver’s license.

But he says that the agents did not ask to see his ID. Instead, they ordered him to leave his car, and they placed handcuffs on him. An agent then asked Machado how he got into the country.

“And I told him I was an American citizen,” Machado said. “He looked at his other partner like, you know, smiling, like saying, ‘Can you believe this guy?’”

The two men with Machado were taken into custody, but he doesn’t know why. He was released after eventually being able to show his driver’s license.

Though Machado described himself as a supporter of the president, he said his faith in Trump’s administration has diminished following his being detained.

“They will assume that we are all illegals,” he said. “They’re just following Hispanic people.”